


Hope

by dorkdevil



Category: Devilman (Anime & Manga), Devilman Crybaby - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Ending, Canon Universe, Did the anime destroy you too?, I wrote this in a surge of emotion so I’m sorry, My way to process the ending, Post-Canon, join the happy place, this is purely self-indulgent, well welcome to the club
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-22
Updated: 2018-02-22
Packaged: 2019-03-22 13:22:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13765056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dorkdevil/pseuds/dorkdevil
Summary: Short canonverse after-ending for all those who need new hope after the story’s actual ending.





	Hope

_Hope_. Even after Lucifer had been cast out of Heaven and become “Satan”, the fallen angel and lord of demons, he had never fully lost hope, no matter how desolate the situation.  
He fell - he swore to take revenge. He was alone - he subjugated demons to serve him. He wanted to prove his power - he destroyed all of God’s beloved humans.  
He killed Akira - …  
…  
…He _felt_.  
Numbness.  
Sorrow.  
Anger.  
Pain.  
Regret.  
_Despair._  
He couldn’t explain these sensations, or why it felt as though something deep inside him had shattered and refused to heal. Or how Akira, the one constant in his life and the only one who ever mattered, could suddenly be gone.  
It didn’t make sense.

Never leaving the body’s side, Satan witnessed how it withered, how time reduced it to bones and how it slowly turned to dust. By the time a gust of wind stole the last of Akira’s remains, the fallen angel had long forgotten what hope felt like.  
It was gone.  
_He_ was gone.  
And for the first time in his life, the future meant nothing anymore.  
Not without Akira.

Satan didn’t pray. He had forfeited the right to when he had turned his back on Heaven and the Creator. But if he did, if he could, he knew he would pray for Akira to return.  
_Oh, how he wanted him to return._  
Satan closed his eyes and gave himself up to the memories Akira had left him with.  
They were all he had left, along with the regret that weighed heavily on his chest.  
He wanted nothing more but to go back in time and keep his promise to protect Akira.  
‘ _I will protect you at any cost.’  
_ … if only he had.

Slowly, God rebuilt Earth around him, erasing the last traces of the battle between demons and Devilmen and breathing life back into the planet, but Satan couldn’t bring himself to care. None of it mattered.  
Nothing but his memories.  
For a long time, the fallen angel lay and dreamt about times when his friend had still been by his side.

  
When Satan woke from his trance a daffodil had emerged from the soil next to him, right where Akira’s remnants had lain, and the fallen angel felt a surge of anger.  
How did it dare growing on _his_ spot? He reached out to yank it out of the ground but froze mid-motion when a small voice came from the side.

“It’s so pretty, isn’t it?”

Satan turned his head and stared at the stranger. A young, raven-haired boy had approached without him noticing and was smiling at the yellow flower.  
Looking down at his own body, Satan realized that it had shrunk back into a child’s.  
Was he dreaming about the past again? He couldn’t recall this memory.

“Mommy told me they don’t grow here, so it must’ve come a long way!”

The boy’s kind, dark eyes were looking at him now.

“Back home we had some too, so I’m glad they grow here as well! It makes moving here a little less lonely.”

The kid’s smile grew, then turned somewhat timid under the other’s blue stare.

“My family just moved here, so I don’t have any friends yet. Do you want to be my friend?” He held out his hand invitingly. “I’m Akira.”

The fallen angel opened his mouth to say something but halted when something wet rolled down his cheek. He glanced up. It wasn’t raining.  
He turned his head back down and was pulled into a warm embrace. _  
What was happening?_

“It’s okay, you don’t have to feel sad anymore. I’m here now, so let’s be friends, alright? If we stay together, we’ll never be lonely.”

Judging from the hitching in his voice, the boy had teared up as well, and the fallen angel released a shaky breath. Could it really be?

“Akira…” whispered the blond and suddenly clutched at the other boy‘s shirt, an unknown emotion bubbling up inside his chest that left him breathless. __  
Was it really him?  
Despite the incessant tears escaping his eyes, a smile tugged at his lips and his heart pounded with unfamiliar excitement and relief.

“Yes. Let’s be friends, Akira.” The strange emotions surging inside him were overwhelming and scary, and part of him hated them, unable to understand them. But the warm body holding onto his, comforting and crying for him, stirred something inside him for the first time in centuries and the shattered pieces of his hope were finally coming back together again.  
He was given a second chance. And, this time, he _would_ do anything to keep his promise. This time he would protect Akira, at any cost. And maybe, one day, he would come to understand what those unfamiliar feelings meant that he had come to know.  
  
“You can call me Ryou.”

“Alright, Ryou.” His precious friend hugged him a little tighter. “Let’s be friends forever.”


End file.
